Publications

The Strategy is aligned with and advances the commitments made by Ministers of Health at the Seventy-fourth session of the Regional Committee through the Declaration on COVID-19 and measures to build back better essential health services to achieve UHC and the health-related SDGs. It recognizes that while COVID-19 has highlighted critical health system gaps, it has also catalysed or expanded innovations in community engagement, digital technology and reorganizing primary care services. It is intended to be a living document that will be reviewed throughout the implementation period.

The purpose of this global status report is to present an assessment of the extent to which countries’ policies align with WHO’s recommendations, evidence-based strategies, and with international norms and standards related to human rights and gender equality. This report is being published at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to an increase in exposure to IPV/domestic violence and an increase in reports of violence against women. COVID-19 response measures in the form of lockdowns and stay-at-home regulations have placed increased economic stress on households, have put a greater care burden on women and increased their exposure to violence in the home. At the same time, the pandemic has decreased the availability of social support and access to services.

In 2019, WHO and Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS convened a learning session of scientific and programmatic experts to consolidate the evidence on why HIV-affected adolescent mothers and their children are being left behind and to deliberate on the multiple-level changes needed to improve their outcomes. This technical brief follows on from that session and will be useful to HIV programme managers in health ministries and other adolescent- and youth-linked line ministries, especially those in in sub-Saharan Africa, in implementing, monitoring and evaluating adolescent and youth-responsive and -friendly health services for young mothers living with HIV. This technical brief aims to inform and support global dialogue and accelerate action on prioritizing services and support for adolescent and young mothers living with HIV. It details core programmatic examples and key strategies actions from across sub Saharan Africa that demonstrate how governments, health facilities, social services, communities, families and adolescent and young mothers are working together to bridge the gap between adolescent and adult-focused HIV and maternal health services. The programme examples provided serve to highlight potential and ongoing learnings in countries.

Multiple agencies and actors have voiced their concerns around the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical trials and the associated harm and risks of these policies. More recently, the importance of allowing pregnant women the opportunity to take part in clinical trials has received renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Recognizing the urgency of addressing this issue, the IMPAACT Network and WHO held a workshop to refine optimal approaches to studying the safety and efficacy of new HIV-related drugs during pregnancy and to establish the next steps for creating materials and methods that would support the implementation of such studies.

Existing inequities have been widely acknowledged as barriers to achieving global and national goals and targets in HIV, TB and malaria programmes. These inequities have become even more pressing amidst the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the magnitude and extent of health inequalities remain poorly documented and understood. This is the first monitoring report devoted to systematically assessing the global state of inequality in the three diseases, quantifying the latest situation of inequalities within countries and change over time. The report is timely due to the renewed emphasis on equity in prominent global initiatives and plans, including the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and global strategies to end AIDS, TB and malaria.

This annual surveillance report is an initiative of Special Preventive Programme, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health. The report aims to provide strategic information to facilitate planning of services and intervention activities for the prevention, care and control of HIV/AIDS.Following a commentary, data collected from the five main components of our surveillance programme (the HIV/AIDS voluntary reporting system, HIV prevalence surveys, sexually transmitted infections caseload statistics, behavioural studies and HIV-1 genotyping studies) were presented as tables and graphs. Findings of the risk behavioural surveys such as the HIV and AIDS Response Indicator Survey (HARiS) and other studies were also included in this report.

This publication provides guidance for developing HIV prevention cascades using a basic approach, but allowing for flexibility and country/area-specific adaptations, based on differences in service delivery and data collection. It is intended to assist national and subnational HIV prevention programme managers—from government entities and nongovernmental organizations/community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs)—involved in the implementation, administration, monitoring and evaluation of HIV prevention programmes. Prevention cascades can be part of an overall strategic information plan to monitor progress in addressing the HIV epidemic nationally and globally and to strengthen programmes.

HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) can compromise the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in reducing HIV incidence and HIV-associated morbidity and mortality. Minimizing the spread of HIVDR is a critical aspect of the broader global response to antimicrobial resistance. WHO recommends that countries routinely implement nationally representative HIVDR surveys. The WHO HIV drug resistance report 2021 shows substantial progress in the implementation of HIVDR surveillance. Between 2014 and 2021, 56 countries implemented HIVDR surveys using WHO-recommended methods. The HIV drug resistance report 2021 summarizes findings from 38 countries that had finalized the surveys by the time of this report and shared data with WHO.

Trends in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in the past 10 years: progress for many but not for all The past 10 years have been a time of progress for many of the world’s women, children and adolescents, and the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) movement, launched in September 2010, has been one of the key multilateral drivers of progress in this regard. The movement’s mobilizing efforts have contributed to dramatic success throughout the decade in many indicators relevant to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, such as in reducing maternal and child mortality and in improving child nutrition and education. Yet, inequities have persisted across regions and countries, and within countries.

We can end AIDS by 2030. Some countries are making remarkable progress, showing us what is possible. But globally, we are simply not bending the curves fast enough to stop the AIDS pandemic. In this report the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) issues a stark warning. The red light is flashing. Progress against AIDS, which was already off track, is now under even greater strain as the COVID-19 crisis continues to rage, disrupting HIV prevention and treatment services, schooling, violence-prevention programmes and more.